Sexual health work in a playground: lessons learnt from the evaluation of a small-scale sexual health project.

Objective: To evaluate a sexual health outreach programme in an adventure playground.

Design: A qualitative approach to evaluation is appropriate for a sexual health project where outcomes are unpredictable, difficult to define in numerical terms and the small scale of the intervention means that an impact on indices such as teenage pregnancy rates is unlikely. The data collection techniques used were the outreach worker's diary, questionnaires and interviews with youth workers, and a focus group with young people.

Quality, mainstream services with proactive and targeted outreach: a model of contraceptive service provision for young people.

Introduction: High teenage pregnancy rates in the UK reflect low levels of contraceptive use. Young people have a negative perception of contraceptive services and experience significant practical barriers to their use. Dedicated young people's services are considered an effective way to improve access.